Because We Can
by Neurotixin123
Summary: Chell goes off bye herself only to find that the outside world is a more treacherous place than she remembered.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer  
**

I do not own Portal or any of the characters in it. although you probably already know this, I'm not going to risk getting sued. I only take credit for the original characters that I came up with.

darn I wish I could have come up with some cool witty disclaimer.

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**Author's note:**

I know this is a short chapter but I meant for this to be just a prologue. The other chapters will be longer so bear with me. ;)

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**Prologue**

Chell woke, gasping. '_Where the hell…' _she thought, wildly looking around._ 'Oh.' _The outside world was strange to Chell after living underground for years at a time and it never failed to startle and confuse her as she woke. The last time she had been above ground was when she was little, and she had been trying very hard to tune out most of her childhood memories. Chell didn't forget them, as her memory was better than most, but she rarely thought of them, for many were miserable and caused her great pain. Sighing, Chell got up off the ground. She still hadn't left the old "abandoned" shed that was actually the entrance to Aperture. It had been only two days since she had left Aperture. GLaDOS had once again gained control of the facility and had decided to let her go. It had also been two days since Wheatley had been sucked into space. '_Oh Wheatley.'_ Chell Sighed. She felt bad about what had happened. Wheatley was just a moron that became blinded by power. He had also been a friend. Well until he had tried to kill her, that is.

Chell walked over to her companion cube and sat beside it. '_What do I do?'_ She asked herself. '_I can't just sit here forever.'_ She attempted a frustrated scream but it only resulted in a breathy squeak. '_Stupid vocal chords.'_

A frigid wind blew across her and she shivered. The first day of winter was getting closer and closer, and with winter, came snow. _'That's it. I need to leave. _Now._' _Chell, now upset and irritable, stood up, said a quiet good bye to Aperture, and then set out through the field of now dead grass.


	2. Chapter 1 - The fun of Taunting

**Authors**

sorry for my long absence. I had actually wrote a lot of the first chapter but then I didn't like it so I started over. It also takes me a long time to write full chapters and for a long while, I had run out of ideas...so...yeah.

This is a somewhat rough draft so there will most probably be some grammar or spelling errors. I hate proof reading so I'll so that later. I'm not all that happy with the results so I'll probably come back and change it.

oh and just so you know, the computer file log thingy might not show up. I have no idea why, but if it looks weird or something, you know why.

It's supposed to be called **fizzledcube** but for some reason it doesn't show up.

Make sure to leave reviews! Constructive criticism is appreciated.

Comments saying how amazing my writing abilities are also welcome... ;)

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**Chapter One**

"You know, I might just enjoy you're company a little bit more if you didn't constantly sing that." GLaDOS told Caroline venomously.

"I know." She replied back, chirpily. Caroline continued to sing.

'_Irritating, chirpy, little…' _

"I can hear you." Caroline interrupted her thoughts.

"Why won't you just go away?"

"I'm technically your conscience. I can't go away." GLaDOS could imagine the smug look that she would have worn on her face, if she had a face that is.

"Well the least you can do is give me some peace and quiet." GLaDOS growled back.

"You know something?" Caroline asked, ignoring GLaDOS's request. "You really need to work on your temper." GLaDOS let out a heavily auto tuned shriek that would have frightened most. Caroline just chuckled to herself. "I told you." GLaDOS's chassis fell in defeat.

"You do not realize the extent of my dislike for you."

"Sure I do." Some of the mirth dropped out of her voice. "You think about it all the time." GLaDOS's optic narrowed to give her an evil look as she formed an idea.

"Then you won't mind me _thinking_ about that lunatic and all the times I almost killed her."

"You'd better not."

"Mmm hmm." GLaDOS chuckled mischievously as she opened her memory files.

"Don't." Caroline spat.

"Let's see…" GLaDOS thought aloud. "GLaDOS nearly kills the lunatic with turrets?"

"NO!"

"You're right. Too obvious." GLaDOS continued to look through the files until she came across the one named; **GLaDOSINITIATIVE c:\ **

"There it is!" GLaDOS laughed. "I never understood how much that lunatic cared about those stupid cubes until I saw how heartbroken she was when I burned them."

**"Open File: c:\ ?" **The announcer asked.

"Yes." GLaDOS mentally smiled. She probably would have smiled physically too, but there was the problem of having no mouth. Caroline sighed miserably as the memory file projected.

_Chell walked into an old test chamber. The walls were marked rust and dirt from weeks, maybe months, of neglect. There were broken, crumbling panels strewn across the walls and floor. A red laser stretched across the room, hovering about a foot off the floor. A cube sat behind it. She looked up. Near the ceiling there was a ledge that went around the perimeter of the room. There was a button on one side, and a door on the other. Chell frowned. That was too easy. _There must be some kind of catch. _She thought. _

_Taking one last look around, she strode slowly toward it. As she got closer she could make out small hearts on the cubs' side. Chell froze. A small smile tugged at her lips. She started toward the cube, getting faster with every step. Leaping over the laser, Chell reached out to embrace the cube. The second she touched it, it turned black and fizzled into multiple charred pieces that sparked as they fell to the ground and turned to dust. The smiled dropped from Chell's face as she froze in shock._

_"Oh. Did I accidentally fizzle that before you could complete the test? I'm sorry." GLaDOS said, her voice filled with mock sympathy. "Go ahead and grab another one." Chell scowled at the previous cube's charred remains as another fell from the ceiling. Reluctantly, she walked over and picked up the companion cube. To her relief, I did not fizzle like the last. Walking over to the laser, she placed the cube in front of it. To her irritation, _

_"Oh. No. I fizzled that one too." GLaDOS told Chell. "Oh well. We have warehouses FULL of the things. Absolutely worthless. I'm happy to get rid of them." Chell felt like screaming as another cube fell down to meet her._

"Alright, that's enough!" Caroline shouted. GLaDOS just chuckled. "Why do you find such pleasure in taunting me?" Caroline snapped.

"Well what else am I supposed to do?"

"Hmm, maybe _run a science facility!" _

"It's not much fun running a science facility when there is nobody else here but the test subjects." GLaDOS sighed.

"Well then maybe you shouldn't have killed all the scientists!"

"How else would I take control of the facility?"

"You didn't need to! And even if you did, killing them wasn't necessary!" Caroline cried. GLaDOS suddenly understood her grief.

"He was going to perish anyway, you know." GLaDOS said, with a touch of sympathy. She could never understand why humans felt such irrational and illogical emotions, but with Caroline as her conscience, she could almost understand what it felt like to have someone you love torn away with no warning, and as much as she hated to admit it, she felt slightly guilty for killing everybody. Well, not _everyone… _some of the scientists and proven to be…particularly irritating.

"I know." Caroline sighed. There was a long silence.

"Alright. I'm done." GLaDOS announced.

"Done what?"

"Being sympathetic;" She replied, sounding slightly irritated. "I'm tired of your remorse. It's boring and pointless."

"Then go pick someone out of the vault to test." Caroline said, obviously distracted. Sighing, GLaDOS looked through the list of the many people that were in stasis. She never paid much attention to their names, and usually just picked at random, but this time, a single name caught her eye.

"Oh god," GLaDOS hissed. "That's impossible." But as she selected the profile, she knew that it was true.

Wheatley had come back to haunt her.

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Duh duh duh!

Grrr... this chapter seemed so much longer when I was writing it...

maybe I'll add some more to it.


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